ENGINEER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY BASIC ENGINEERING MANUAL V: 02A-310208
“Technicians keeps the ship and its accessories in working order and make repairs after the ship is damaged.” - Star Army Technician
A starship —such as those found on a starship— is a large, complex piece of equipment, comprised of several dangerous and volatile systems which, if left to run unattended, would very likely degenerate to the point of self-destruction (or worse) within the span of a week. The humble technician ensures that these systems remain operational using both routine scheduled maintenance and emergency maintenance, and furthermore it is the technician that advances Yamataian technology with ingenious skill so that we remain ahead of our contemporaries in other services.
It is, in short, engineers who keep the Empire alive today. It is a grave oversight that the Empire does not award medals specifically for excellence in this important field, but such is the life of a technician!
This guide is designed for the Heis and the Heishos of the Technical Profession. It is not meant to be read by the officer, who need not know how close she is, minute by minute, to becoming a sub-atomic dust particle cloud, nor need it be given account by the casual reader, or those whose existence is pleasantly bereft of the heat, the sound, and the peculiar calm of a properly manned engineering space.
It is instead meant for those whose lives are short, bereft of all light, and potentially both underpaid (formerly, unpaid - see YE31 SLAVERY LAW) and miserable.
Below are the basics of engineering to be discovered first through an overview.
The duties of a technician on a starship of the Star Army of Yamatai consist of maintaining the ship's combat readiness, and making everything better when the excrement hits the fan.
The term 'Engineer' encompasses a wide variety of jobs and professions, so many that new engineers can be daunted by them. Traditionally, when most people think of an engineer, they tend to picture the ratchet-turner with the goggles and a peculiar magnetic field which attracts, against all logic to the contrary, oil. This is not always the case; although the main engines and generators need regular monitoring, maintenance, and repair, the technician field of study is much broader and encompasses all ship systems. When a power cable shorts out, an electrical technician is usually the one crawling through the maintenance tunnels to replace it. When the waste water recycling tank starts burping green pus, a utility technician is often on-scene (with appropriate chemical and smell-resistant attire). When the Tactical panel on the bridge starts displaying Mishhuvurthyar vessels in fluorescent red and green while singing Christmas carols, a computer technician is usually there to solve the problem, or at least provide complimentary eggnog.
In other words, while all engineers are expected to know everything (many brains are digital and technical manuals are free), not all engineers are expected to know everything. Part of the job is thinking on one's feet and being flexible in thinking.
For we get to engineering duties, something should be mentioned about the behavior engineers should have as professionals. It is vital that an engineer know and understand guidelines or rules for the orginization he or she works for (This usually means any rules set out by the GM and FM of the plot your in). Beyond this, each different field of engineering has its own unique set of professional ethics. Combined with an engineering Code of ethics, these rules are the guiding force that help decide what an engineer should do in a particular situation.
A basic and general overview of repair and maintenance of starship parts, how to make materials, leading to a more in-depth page.
The fundamental concept of engineering is using science to solve practical problems. Often you will be tasked from fixing impossible things in impractical limited resource situations to building MacGyver defense/attack Senteries from mere-junk. You build things out of the SARP common materials usually using tools defined by your faction. For using Shees see Shields.
Besides the basic repair concepts, engineers should be well versed their teams procedures and tactics especially on duty. All Engineers should also be prepared for possible space combat and should be familiar with the logistics side of such combat. So that every engineer is prepared for the heat of battle, they should be familiar with starship or base's interior structure including location of all emergency systems and location of supplies. For practice engineers can use the Random Starship Damage Generator.
For ground mission it good for Engineers to brush up on Military Assault of a Planet for both offensive and defensive scenarios.
This will go into more detail about specialties; I.E., Electricians, Propulsionists, Weapons and Computer Specialists, and so-on.
A Quarter Master is the engineering specialty that worries about supplies, ammunition, and repairing all vehicles and starships. Typically this special job can be done by the Lieutenants, Head Engineer, and Warrant Officers. Normally the Quarter Master specializes typically in four or three of the other Engineering specialties, while staring engineers and NPCs typically specialize in one or two.
A Machinist specializes in engineering of electronics, weapons, machines, and biophysics. Typically they specialize in repair and maintaining vehicles, power armors, mechs, and making weapons. Machinist are also known as Field Techs since they are often on the front lines along with Technicians. This is because they are most advantageous in Troops of Soldiers or Power Armor Squads. Most second level officer rank machinist specialize is in making makeshift ranged weapons and makeshift vehicles from found junk and enemy parts.
A technician specialized in engineering of electronics, computers, communication, and shields. They are typically knowledgeable in quantum computing, computing, optics, acoustics, nanotechnology operation, digital-signal processing (DSP), thermodynamics, other electromagnetic sciences. They can repair most of the electronic systems in starship electronic systems including AIs, communication systems, shield systems, and electronic warfare systems. Most second level officer rank technicians can specialize in makeshift communication devices, makeshift cyber-augmentation, makeshift electrical explosives, and/or other electronic warfare.
This list intentionally does not include any drone that is also a starship in its own right.
An Armorist or Material Science Engineer specializes in the engineering of materials, structures, and chemistry. They are typically knowledgeable in Biochemistry, Polymer Science, Inorganic Chemistry, Solid State Atomic Physics, Material Science, Nanotechnology, Architecture, and other construction and fabrication methods. All Hulls including Shuttles and Fighters. Along with a ability to fabricate and repair things at ungodly speeds, most Armorists tend to specialize in makeshift material modification/invention and makeshift [:list_of_general_melee_weapons|melee weapons]] or tend to specialize in makeshift demolitions.
This is list includes both the standard starship armors and other materials used in SARP. A starting Armorist knows only the materials specific to their faction or army; they are also the only kind he can build rapidly For Starships most of the materials can be found here List of Starship Armors. Those that are not on the list above, for various reasons, are listed below:
Universal
Faction-Unique
Propulsion and Reactor Engineers specialize in engineering of reactors, quantum mechanics, aerospace, propulsion, shields. Thus they typically are knowledgeable in aerodynamics, electromagnetic physics, FTL propulsion, nuclear physics, atomic solid state physics, quantum mechanics, plasma physics, statistical mechanics, shield engineering, and other sciences related to reactors or propulsion.
Generally all SARP starships can be found at Starships; however, fighter and bombers can be found at List of Aerospace Craft.
This will explain the chain of command utilized by engineering on most star-ships. It will be a general structure rather than a precise one. Point of reference will be the YSS Miharu, YSS Eucharis, and YSS Senbu
Engineering aboard starships is most often headed by a “Chief Engineer” - an Officer or Warrent Officer who has either a specialty in Engineering, or several years experience on-board the specific class of ship. The Chief Engineer is responsible for the maintenance and condition of the entire ship, top to bottom. She reports directly to the ship's Captain, but is required to keep the First Officer informed. The chief engineer reviews and authorizes all maintenance, fabrication, and work requests aboard the ship. If the ship is not capable of producing its own parts for whatever reason, the Chief Engineer is also responsible for submitting the work request to an outside entity and supervising the work or repair in question. Other responsibilities include drafting the watch-bills for the engineering department, approving all requests for leave and liberty, maintaining correct and updated technical data entries, ensuring that the crew is provided proper damage control equipment, recommending her technicians for advancement, and assuming any peripheral duties that the Captain of the vessel deems fit.
Most Star Army ships, due to their size, only require one Chief Engineer. However, she is authorized to delegate her responsibilities as she sees fit, with the exception of damage control. Most Chief Engineers choose to delegate, if not only to relieve the stress of the job somewhat, but also to reward their Technicians and provide them with training and valuable experience. A good Chief Engineer looks after her soldiers.
During combat, the Chief Engineer takes command of damage control and firefighting efforts, prioritizing and directing repairs from either the bridge or main engineering. She maintains a damage control plotting with information viewable at both stations, and keeps the Captain or First Officer informed of ship status at all times, or when requested.
Notable Chief Engineers; - Shosa Kage Yaichiro, Former Chief Engineer, YSS Eucharis - Mike Quakenbush, Chief Engineer, SS Raider - Santô Juni Tom Freeman, Chief Engineer, YSS Miharu - Nitô Hei Katsuragi Suzaku, Senior Engineer/Technician, YSS Senbu
Explaining, in general, the concept of fold, and the distortion drive and combined field system, with appropriate references cited.
In Star Army, the concepts of folding through hyperspace to go faster-than-light, distorting the space-time continuum to go faster-than-light, or traversing wormholes not only differ between races but between ships of the same fleet as well. This primarily due to the fact that many people have different interpretations of how hyperdrive and FTL should work.
Fundamentally, though all fold drives and other FTL devices are plot devices designed to allow travel between solar systems and planets. In star army, FTL-devices were once used in combat to improve ship maneuverability and weapons. However, insert summary of GM's reason for the decline of CDD as in combat and “Faster Than Light” Lasers.
Hyper-drives and other fold-drives are special systems in a star ship that allow it to enter and exit hyperspace, an extra dimensional space, through space folding, an extra dimensional . They are so complex they seem to enter and exit hyperspace as if by magic, but engineering wise you fix them just like you repair an active sensor, radar, or a radio. The exact definition of hyperspace, beyond being just a plot device, varies depending on who you ask. In fact you, the reader, probably have your own definition. There are however 2 very common definitions of hyperspace:
In SARP, people use the definitions interchangeably. For the purposes of this article however, we will refer to hyperspace as the space-time of dimension 5 or greater, we will call 4D space-time Minkowski Space. This is primarily because if you really think about it we live and sense in a 4D space where everything is limited by the speed of light.
Know that as an engineer its important to know the essential parts of any hyperdrive system. Their are four main components to the fold sytem – a ship's fold drive or fold system (motor), sensor systems (headlights) , shield system (air-bag), and sublight engines (break).
Wormholes is the concept of bend Minkowski Space to create a space-time tunnel, which serves as shortcut between two other wise distant points. With wormholes one is thus does not go faster than light, but one simply takes a shorter path than the normal perceived straight line path that light took. In SARP Wormholes, are primarily used by the Freespacers and Hidden Sun clan. A long time ago Neplesia use a gate network of wormholes; however, they were destroyed in the early in the YE 31-32 war between Neplesia and NMX.
To create wormholes, one requires a energy called negative energy, or energy with the opposite sign of normal energy. Negative energy is just like normal positive energy that any particle has. In fact, the only real difference is that negative energy is associated with antimatter reactions like chemical energy is associated with chemical reactions. The reason for negative energy existence and relationship with wormholes is very mathematically complex and requires combining quantum mechanics with relativity. If one wants a spacetime, which contains a traversable wormhole, it simply turns out that there must be a local negative energy density near the throat of the wormhole for the solution to exist and be stable.
Don't try to get too hung up on negative energy. The important thing for a SARP engineer is negative energy is used to stabilize wormholes. The other important thing is that, negative also turns out to be exact same form energy as that infinite energy found in zero-point energy (2-D), quantum foam (Minkowski space), and aether (hyperspace). In practice, this is why wormhole generator devices are a lot more high maintenance than normal fold systems. Engineers should treat failures with the wormhole system like a reactor failure or a core-meltdown.
A quick, general overview of the four following. Note to self; Link appropriately.
Along with the 4 major power sources, some factions rely on minor powers sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric. On the industrial scale and in right environment minor power sources can actually pro. For example solar power is very advantageous when near a sun (see *); wind power is advantageous for striped gas giants; geothermal for really rock, lava, or desert worlds; and water-based power for water worlds. However, for starships and heavy armored vehicles, another power source is typically required.
*Unless it's a large space station, this distance is roughly typically up to the about 1-5 AUs beyond the range of the star's Habitable Zone
this list composed of any purely electrical power source categories that doesn't fit in another category. Note most starships typically have their own super capacitors. By design these are typically similar in purpose to MFY capacitors.
Generators and Reactors
Propulsion Arrays
Related Technologies
Antimatter is a substance occasionally seen in the technology of various SARP faction and corporation. Since antimatter annihilates any material it touches, this type of substance is very volatile and less popular than nuclear power. However, it does find uses in various weapons, and matter/anti-matter reaction power reactors, and as “nitro” for Plasma or Nuclear Propulsion Systems.
Dear SARP member, feel free to add your approved antimatter power systems here Reactors and Generators
Propulsion Arrays
Related Technologies
Dear knowledgeable reader feel free to add anything. Just be sure to include something mentioning turbines.
Dear SARP member, feel to add your nuclear reactor here Mixed Fusion Fission Reactors
Fission Reactors
Fusion Reactors
Propulsion System
Related Technologies
Dear reader if you are a Iroma Engineer or Exhack please fill in the basic concept here
Zero Point Energy is typically created by manipulating a Zero-Point Field. Currently only the Iroma seem to have explored this technology. Related Technologies
Overriding everything else, the person who manages the plot or story you're in determines how your shields are implied. This means they determine specifically how much damage a unit takes, how much the shield absorbs, etc.
A basic concept of what barrier shields are or how they work.
A basic concept of what Distortion Shielding and how they work.
WIP